I often meet with people that are facing difficult circumstances. Maybe they are going through a divorce, facing surgery, lost a job, struggling in a relationship, dealing with a rebellious child or facing an illness. My goal when I meet with people facing hard stuff, is to give them some hope. Listening and letting them know you care is a big part of that. Encouraging them to turn to God and draw close to him is also extremely important. After that I always try to give them some tools to use to help them work through whatever they are facing.
Often I will give them a book or a message CD or even a few Scriptures to focus on. As I think about this I may have been missing an important tool – music. I realized this when I was in the hospital last week. After everyone had left and I was in the room alone, I got my iPod out and started listening to some music and some pod casts from popular pastors. The music was soothing and helped me to relax. Listening to worship music helped me to focus on God and worship Him, even though I was uncomfortable and sore. I realized that when we worship God in the storms of life it builds our strength, our faith and our hope.
From now on I plan to incorporate worship music into the tools I give to people to help them reconnect and refocus on Jesus Christ. No matter what hardship you are facing, God knows all about it and wants to walk through it with you. It can be hard to have that perspective when you are in the midst of a struggle. To have someone listen to you, encourage you and help you worship the Almighty helps to gain a new perspective on your current reality. Are you feeling down? Are you in the midst of a hard struggle? If so get out a good worship CD or go to iTunes and download some good worship music and then crank it up.
Some of my favs on my pod include: David Crowder Band, Jeremy Camp, Plumb, RED, Decyfer Down, Steve Fee, Switchfoot, Tim Hughes, TobyMac, North Point Live, MercyMe and Casting Crowns. I am actually listening to Todd Fields from North Point “You Are” and “Everlasting God”right now.
Chad, This is SO true – back when I was 21 years old I had Cancer and went thru treatments which involved a lot of stays in the hospital. While at that time there was no such thing as an iPod, they did have the small cassette players with headsets. I listened to so much music that got me thru everything – sometimes I would get so lost in the music the nurses would scare the baa-gee-bee’s out of me when they’d come into the room.
Joanne
Yea, learned the same lesson today! Spent an hour in an MRI machine and the Sirius Christian radion made my heart soar and the time fly! Keep writing…pray you are healing quickly!.